Monday, November 25, 2013

Our Day at the Beach --A First

Elder and Sister Day actually have first names! They are Vaughn and Jeanette. They invited us to go with them to the beach. We walked to the corner and watched for the local bus that had Playa Sur written on the front. We entered the bus and paid our 8 pesos each and it was quite crowded but the people inside were nice. Most of them were on their way to work at the Pemex refinery.

By the time we arrived at the beach, we were the only ones left on the bus. Because it is winter now and the day was cool and breezy, the beach was totally empty except for us crazy North Americans and a few dedicated joggers. The waves were exceptionally large and the tide was coming in.

There were wooden chairs and small wooden tables with palm branch umbrella stands that lined the long beach in double rows and the whole beach had the feeling of vacancy about it. The black flag was waving to warn everyone not to get into the water. We saw many different kinds of birds overhead and in the water.

There were two piers and we walked the first which was 1 ½ miles long and 20 feet wide with huge cement blocks lining it and protecting it from the waves. Most of the graffiti written on the huge blocks told us of God’s love or called us to repentance. We saw pelicans sitting on the water and they seemed to be there just to ride the waves and to enjoy themselves.

We saw fishermen with their poles going to fish in the water between the piers. We saw a raccoon that Brother Day called “Harvey” and said he lives right there on the pier. Harvey came right up to us and more or less demanded some food and stood on his feet waiting while Brother Day peeled a mandarin.

But the delight of the walk and pier was the dolphins we saw and two of them seemed to be practicing their synchronized swimming. There were two souvenir stands open so we browsed inside of them and actually bought a wooden dolphin that we have brought home and put on a shelf.